WyoHackathon Highlights UW Commitment to Technology

The University of Wyoming made history in recent days, successfully hosting its first-ever hackathon event.

The WyoHackathon 2018, an event for software developers, took place Sept. 7-9 and attracted more than 400 attendees to the War Memorial Fieldhouse. In March 2018, Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead signed five blockchain-related bills into law as the state has assumed a leadership role in the sector. Blockchain is a breakthrough of database technology for storing information, including cryptocurrency.

UW alumnae and event chairman Caitlin Long said many highlights came out of the event, which include:

• The final tally included more than $100,000 in sponsor donations for the Department of Computer Science.

• Patrick Byrne, chief executive officer of Overstock.com, committed to opening a new office for software developers in Wyoming.

• Robert MacInnis, chief executive officer of ActiveAether, announced the company is relocating from New York City to Jackson, Wyo.

• ActiveAether announced a donation of compute capacity worth $20,000 to UW’s Department of Computer Science.

• Twenty-seven teams competed, comprised of developers from Switzerland, Egypt, Slovakia, Kenya, China, Canada and all over the U.S., including UW students and students from Wyoming high schools.

• Gubernatorial candidates for Wyoming, including Republican Mark Gordon and Democrat Mary Throne, together judged the “Best for Wyoming” category, and pitched to the attendees to set up their businesses in Wyoming.

• Competitors developed blockchain software to benefit Wyoming, ranging from water rights, healthcare, tourism, ranching, supply chain management, government efficiency and entertainment.

• A teacher and his two teenage students from Shoshoni, Wyo., were awarded more than $1,500 in prize value by Decent, a Swiss blockchain company, as well as an Oculus Rift donated by Green House Data of Cheyenne. Decent’s engineers from Switzerland and Slovakia mentored the Shoshoni students and plan to continue to do so.

“This event put UW on the map globally in the field of blockchain technology,” UW alumnae and event chairman Caitlin Long says. “Blockchain is a cutting-edge form of database technology, and UW was early to start teaching students the subject. Few universities are teaching it, much less able to support a world-class hackathon. UW put on a good show and provided a terrific platform to support economic diversification by attracting software start-ups to Wyoming.”

All software developed during WyoHackathon is open-source and is available to anyone at https://wyominghackathon.devpost.com/submissions.

WyoHackathon Winners

• First Place, $12,000 (Sponsor - University of Wyoming): Token Subscription Team

• Second Place, $8,000 (Sponsor - University of Wyoming): Peregrine Team

• Third Place, $4,000 (Sponsor - University of Wyoming): WyoFlow Team

• Most Creative, $1,000 (Sponsor - University of Wyoming): Cowgirl Technologies Team

• Audience Favorite, $1,000 (Sponsor - University of Wyoming): Rawhide Team

• Best Use of Technology, $1,000 (Sponsor - University of Wyoming): Topicless Team

• ConsenSys Challenge, 3 ETH: Etherize.it Team

• SingularDTV Challenge, Up to $5,000 Music Festival Tickets: Top 100 Musician Billboard Team

• Best for Wyoming Challenge, $9,375 each (Sponsors - Caitlin Long, University of Wyoming, Visceral Art, Wyoming Technology Business Center, JAM Escrow): Rawhide Team, Electronic Corporate Formation Portal Team

• BullPay Challenge, 3 ETH: Pokkit Team

• DECENT Challenge, 10,000 DCT each: Trustin.Me Team, Shoshoni Team (Plus DECENT engineers will mentor the team), JAJNTT Team (Plus DECENT engineers will mentor the team)

• MakerDAO Challenge, 500 DAI each: Token Subscription Team, Peregrine Team, WyoFlow Team, Trustin.Me Team, Rawhide Team, Electronic Corporate Formation Portal Team, Topicless Team, Undertaker & Petrix Team

• MetaX Challenge, 2 ETH & Ledger Blue: Municipal Bonds on the Blockchain Team

• Best Government Blockchain Solution Challenge, four passes to Government Blockchain Summit: Trustin.Me Team

• EOS Tribe Challenge, $2,000: EOS EasyAccount Team

• ShapeShift Challenge, KeepKey Hardware Wallet: Peregrine Team, Electronic Corporate Formation Portal Team, Undertaker & Petrix Team, WYO.LLC Team

• ActiveAether Challenge, 10,000 FogCoin each: Electronic Corporate Formation Portal Team, WyoMesh Team

• Green House Data Prize, Oculus Rift: Shoshoni Team